


Bloodlines Run Deep

by Chameleon777



Category: Almost Human
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-11
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-30 19:14:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10883196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chameleon777/pseuds/Chameleon777
Summary: Despite the memory impairments he has struggled with over the years while serving on the police force, Detective Kennex has always remembered his twin sister, Juliana, and how she's been missing for seven years because of the InSyndicate. What happens when Julia and her son are suddenly found and return to Kennex's life? How will Kennex adjust and will he be able to help his sister and previously unknown nephew?





	1. Hidden Blood

“Be quiet and sit in the back nicely or we will shoot you all,” a dark voice hissed as the car rolled along.

Through the darkness, Dr. Juliana Kennex silently covered her son, John Reginald Kennex Jr. otherwise known as ‘Reggie’, in a gentle embrace because she knew he was scared. 

The feeling of intense fear filled the vehicle, as all those jammed in the dark van were kidnapping victims who had been tortured, beaten, starved, and moved around the country for seven years simply to keep them from being rescued. Many had died and their organs had been harvested and submitted to the black market.

Suddenly, the van came to a stop and weapons fire could be heard all around the van followed by a deafening silence. There was a click and the doors suddenly opened, flooding the back in light and causing the beaten to all cover their eyes simply because they had been in darkness for two days.

We’re all going to be killed in broad daylight. Juliana thought anxiously. All of us, right now.

Anxious whimpers filled the vehicle, but Juliana remained where she was with her arms around her son, determined not to make herself a moving target, “Are you injured?” a voice suddenly asked firmly.

Deeply confused, Juliana looked up and was surprised to see an MX-43 police android in the van looking at her and Reggie, “Your captors have been terminated,” the android said. “Are you injured?”

“Yes, my son and I both are,” Juliana replied softly. “I don’t know if we can get out.”

The MX-43 android offered his hand and helped Juliana out of the van, sighing platonically when Reggie clung to her legs, his dark eyes filled with fear and confusion. Down the road, Julian could see other MX officers talking to the other inhabitants of the van and assessing their needs. Sirens filled the air.

“If you are able to identify yourself, it would prove useful,” the MX-43 officer stated emotionlessly.

Juliana sighed, “My name is Doctor Juliana Kennex,” she replied, holding to Reggie tightly. “This is my son, Reggie.  
*****  
“You won’t be going out on patrol this morning,” Stahl said as she came into the break room and saw that John was helping himself to a coffee while waiting for Dorian. “Maldonaldo wants to see you.”

Detective Kennex frowned, “Why?” he asked in a gruff voice. “Did I do something wrong?”

“Maldonaldo wouldn’t tell me,” Stahl replied quietly. “She just wants you in her office.”

Detective Kennex sighed, finished his coffee, and strode out of the break room to the Captain’s office, wondering what was up. As he entered the office, Maldonaldo stood from her desk and looked at him.

“John, there was an early morning traffic stop done by MX-43’s that ended up being a InSyndicate human trafficking transport,” Maldonaldo said in a concerned voice. “Most of the victims were sent to hospital and are receiving medical treatment and debriefing therapy, but two refused to go.”

Detective Kennex sighed, “And I suppose you want me to talk them into it?” he asked quietly.

Maldonaldo gave him a look and gestured for him to follow her into the quiet room that was attached to her office. 

Detective Kennex sighed and followed her into the quiet room, stunned when he saw his twin sister, Juliana, who had gone missing from her mobile clinic seven years ago asleep on the couch with her arms around a little boy, who was also sleeping. Both of them looked terribly thin, tortured, and malnourished and John found himself eyeing their visible injuries, filled with deep concern.

“Juliana,” Detective Kennex spoke gruffly, holding back his emotions. “Juliana, it’s John.”

Juliana stirred, opened his eyes, and stared at John, “John?” she asked in a tired, shaken voice.

John silently sat down on the couch, “How come you’re not at the hospital?” he asked softly.

“I don’t trust doctors,” Juliana replied quietly. “Last one ripped out my uterus for killing Reggie’s father.”

Maldonado’s eyes widened, as did John’s and John silently reached out, gently touching Juliana’s bruised face with his weathered fingers, “Whenever Dorian gets his android butt up here, we can take you both over and make sure the medics treat you with care,” John said in a brotherly voice.

“If I go to the hospital, they’ll take Reggie,” Juliana replied softly. “We’ve got nowhere to go.”

John sighed, “I named him after you, but it was easier to call him Reggie so I wouldn’t hurt thinking about you,” Juliana continued softly, her voice tired. “You and I both know that social services…”

Giving Juliana a look, John reached into his pocket and extracted his cellular device. He silently pressed some buttons, inserted his address when it was requested, and then returned the phone to his pocket.

“I’ve just ordered an apartment expansion and rearrangement,” John replied gruffly. “Should be done by suppertime.”

Maldonaldo looked at Juliana gently, “I believe social services will leave you alone,” she replied softly.

Juliana sighed and gently nudged the boy, who quickly woke, “Reggie, this is your Uncle John,” she spoke gently, gesturing to John. “We’re going to go with him to the doctor and get looked at.”

“Are you the police guy who my mommy told me stories about?” Reggie asked in a quiet voice.

John gave Juliana a look, “Stories?” he asked in a confused voice. “You told him stories about me?”

“It’s not like he had books to read,” Juliana replied quietly. “He’s had a lot of nightmares…”

Just then, Dorian wandered into the office, “We’ll get him some books and other stuff after we visit the hospital,” John said in a gruff, but gentle voice. “If you need clothes and stuff, we can get that too.”

“Hi, I’m Dorian,” Dorian commented, smiling warmly at Juliana and her son. “John?”

John sighed, “Juliana, this is my work partner, Dorian,” he replied. “Dorian, this is Juliana, my sister.”

As Dorian extended his hand, pain and weakness shot through Juliana and she promptly passed out.


	2. Aftershock Effects

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What starts out innocent quickly turns dark...and hits much too close to home.

Five Hours Later

“…What’s ice cream, Mister Dorian?”

“…Dorian, I thought I told you to take Reggie to the food kiosk or something.”

“…Reggie wanted his mom, John. It’s only natural…”

“DORIAN! Go and take Reggie to get whatever food he wants to try!”

Warmth filled Juliana as she opened her eyes and slowly sat up, freezing at the sight of herself in a hospital gown and covered in IV’s, “Hey,” John spoke in a quiet voice. “You’re all right, Juliana.”

Juliana silently felt around her hair and found it in a ponytail, “I put your hair in a ponytail,” John said quietly. “I didn’t think you’d want to wake up with it around your face all messy-like.”

“Did social services come?” Juliana asked sharply, shaken by the thought of losing Reggie.

John sighed, “I already told them you and Reggie would be living with me and that I’ve ordered an apartment expansion to accommodate you both,” he replied calmly. “They’re fine with it.”

“When can I get out of here?” Juliana asked nervously. “I hate being a patient of any kind.”

John gave Juliana a look, “You’ve been missing for seven years and you were a prisoner of InSyndicate,” he replied calmly. “You’ll need medicine and food before you get released as well as a debriefing.”

“Let’s see, I was taken by InSyndicate because I was an attractive doctor who could help organize more efficient organ trade through the black market and I ended up getting raped by a guy who thought I was hot and claimable,” Juliana snapped. “I killed my rapist, ended up pregnant with Reggie, and shortly after he was born, the InSyndicate surgeons ripped my uterus from me when I was fully conscious as punishment for killing my rapist. I’ve been carted around carted around the country like livestock for the last seven years to serve those allied with the InSyndicate. I think that’s a pretty thorough debriefing!”

John’s eyes widened in surprise, “And don’t start lecturing me about my temperament, John Reginald, or I will knock you on your butt,” Juliana spoke sternly. “I do not care that you are a police officer. I can still beat you to the ground in combat boxing.”

“You’ve got the same attitude I had when I first returned to the force,” John replied quietly.

Juliana scoffed, “It’s honestly nothing personal, John, but I honestly thought I was going to die and that Reggie was going to die and we were going to both be used for spare parts,” she replied softly.

“I know it’s not personal, Jules,” John replied, taking her hand. “It’s PTSD and that’s normal.”

Juliana sighed, but didn’t pull her hand away, “The InSyndicate drugged us all with stuff to keep us functional each day,” she spoke shakily. “It made us focus on our assigned jobs and eliminated our need for food, water, and anything deemed superficial. When people began to slow down, the drug was withheld and the withdrawal symptoms were quite brutal and involved passing out, sickness, seizures, or in extreme cases, it stopped people’s hearts from beating. I was given the drug for a while until I decided to simply fake being submissive, so they stopped giving it to me about three years in and I simply followed commands. I was the best doctor they had, so I got to do the dirty work.”

John eyed the IV’s in Juliana’s hands and arms, “How is it nothing’s broken?” he asked softly.

“I’ve got a lot of healed fractures and it causes arthritis from time to time that cripples me for up to a day, John,” Juliana replied quietly. “If I’m going to live with you, you probably need to know that.”

John frowned, “Reggie’s got no injuries or anything,” he replied in a confused voice. “How?”

“I’m a doctor and I also learned how to make basic explosives,” Julia said quietly. “I told InSyndicate that no harm better come to Reggie or I would simply use my knowledge to blow up their trafficking base.”

Suddenly, the monitor above the bed blipped and Juliana sank back down to the pillow, her breathing faint as she trembled and her expression pained, “Everything’s starting to hurt again,” she whispered, swearing quietly as she reached for the breathing mask on the side of the bed and put it on. “This is a secure room, you said, right? John, I need you to go check on Reggie and make sure he’s okay.

John sighed and nodded, “Just get some rest, Jules,” he spoke gently, sighing as she fell asleep.  
****  
“Is that ice cream, Mister Dorian?” Reggie asked quietly as Dorian produced a cone of chocolate ice cream that he had gotten from the eatery’s ice cream machine. “Why’s it all brown and what’s it in?”

Dorian sighed, “This little thing is called a cone,” he replied calmly. “And the ice cream’s chocolate.”

“What’s chocolate?” Reggie asked in a confused voice, eyeing the ice cream cone with uncertainty.

Dorian looked confused, “You’ve never had chocolate before?” he asked softly. “Or ice cream?”

“It wasn’t allowed, but Mommy told me stories about how she and Uncle John used to go to parks when they were kids and get ice cream from ice cream carts,” Reggie replied quietly. “It was a happy story.”

John paused at the door, having heard Reggie’s comments, “Hey there, Reggie,” he finally said calmly.

Reggie’s eyes lit up and he rushed over to John, throwing his arms around him eagerly. John returned the hug, reminding himself that Jules and Reggie had probably not had positive contact in a long time.

“Mister Dorian got me ice cream, but it looks weird,” Reggie said in a worried voice. “Is it safe?”

John walked over to Dorian, took the ice cream, and made like he was examining it, “Hmm,” he replied in a mock concerned voice, knowing that Reggie needed reassurance. “I’ll have to test it out.”

Reggie’s eyes went wide as John licked it, “It seems safe and okay,” he replied calmly. “Want some?”

Reggie nodded and John squatted, smiling as Reggie came over and tasted the cone with his tongue. 

As Reggie ate the cone, a doctor came into the room holding the shoes that Juliana had been wearing, “Detective Kennex, I thought you might want to take a look at the data capsules we found in your sister’s shoes,” the doctor said, handing the shoes to John. “They’re all maxed out on data.”

John frowned and took the shoes, his eyes widening when he saw small data capsules taped to the inside of the shoe just above the insoles, “Holy crap,” he commented in a stunned voice. “Dorian.”

Not wanting to scare Reggie, Dorian focused his eyes on the shoes and did a quick scan, “They’re filled with video and audio files, John,” Dorian replied quietly. “I can’t do a more detailed analysis here.”

“Those are Mommy’s diaries, Uncle John,” Reggie spoke up, eyeing the shoes. “She made them a lot.”

John nodded and passed the shoes to Dorian, “Run these over to PD,” he ordered in a stern voice.

Dorian took the shoes, “Seven years’ worth of InSyndicate observations might help the department in ways anyone ever dreamed possible,” John whispered quietly. “Let Maldonaldo know about them.”

Nodding, Dorian quickly left the room, “Reggie, do you want anything else to eat?” John asked in as kind a voice as he could muster. “I’m feeling a little hungry myself, but I don’t wanna eat all by myself.”  
*****  
Police Department

Captain Maldonaldo’s eyes widened in shock as Dorian carefully removed the data capsules from the shoes and placed them in an evidence container for scanning, “Juliana Kennex kept logs during the entire seven years she was a prisoner?” she asked in a stunned voice, having heard Dorian’s explanation.

“According to her son, Reggie, they were classified as diaries,” Dorian replied in a worried voice.

Captain Maldonaldo nodded, deeply floored by this development, “Let’s run the first one just to see if they work,” she ordered, gesturing to the data port in her office. “Are these things sorted by date?”

Dorian pawed through the basket and extracted a small data capsule, “This seems to be the first one since it was at the back of her left shoe, Captain,” he replied, walking over to the data port to put it in.

There was static, followed by an anxious gasp, “You will submit to InSyndicate’s rules and regulations now, I trust?” a dark female voice asked as a younger Juliana’s battered face appeared on the screen. “I warned you not to try and fight, but you disobeyed and the loss of your dignity is a terrible price.”

“Mom, why are you involved with this?” Juliana asked shakily, gazing off the camera. “Why…”

There was a gasp and a rough hand reached down and pulled Juliana up by her hair, “I stopped being your and John’s mother when Edward Kennex died, Juliana,” a dark voice hissed. I am now a leader in one of the most powerful criminal syndicates in the country, if not the world. You may have been my daughter once, but I will NOT have you being a pathetic public servant like your half-wit, crippled brother and his synthetic leg is."

Captain Maldonaldo’s eyes widened in horror, “Detective Kennex’s mother is a leader with InSyndicate?!” she gasped softly.

Dorian felt true fear as the view changed and a dark haired woman with cold eyes came into view bearing a tattoo on her neck that signified her status, "Dorian, let's analyze all of these before we tell Detective Kennex about this," Captain Maldonaldo said in an urgent voice.


	3. The Tree of Destroying Life

Two Days Later

Kennex Apartment

“You could have used another day in the hospital,” John commented in a concerned voice as he led Juliana into his newly expanded apartment. “Medicine and counseling would do wonders…”

Juliana scoffed, “A counselor telling me I need to make weekly appointments with a sexbot for stress relief is not something I need to hear twice,” she growled as she led Reggie into the apartment. “Reggie, why don’t you go check out your new room and figure out what kind of clothes you’d like to have?”

John frowned, “The counselor referred you to a sexbot?” he asked softly. “Why did it do that?”

“Attributing my snappy personality to hormones,” Juliana replied gruffly. “I do not need or want that.”

John sighed, “As easy as it would be to turn to that profession for good money, I’m emotionally used up in that regard thanks to the InSyndicate,” Juliana spoke bitterly. “How does one look for work here?”

“You should take time,” John replied as Reggie hurried off to his new room. “Adjusting’s hard.”

Seemingly irritated, Juliana moved off to her new room, “I don’t want to impose on you for a long time,” her voice carried across the apartment in an anxious tone. “It’s bad enough I’m borrowing clothes.”

There was a heavy silence followed by a loud CRASH, “Mommy!” Reggie yelled. “MOMMY!”

John hurried across the apartment and swore when he saw when Juliana on the floor near her bed trembling anxiously as if she had just thrown up, “I’m going through withdrawals,” Julia mumbled, seeing that John was there. “InSyndicate dosed us before every van ride and the drugs can’t be detected through simplistic blood testing. I took a double dose because I wouldn’t allow them to dose Reggie.”

“A double dose of what?” John asked in a concerned voice. “Should I be calling for Rescue?”

Juliana sighed, “Metorae combined with some sort of sedative that was supposed to keep us occupied and quiet during the van ride,” she spoke in a trembling voice, frowning and grabbing her chest. “Ow.”

John’s eyes widened in fear, “What the actual crap is Metorae?” he asked worriedly.

“I didn’t take it, it was force-fed to me before we all were jammed in the van,” Julia replied weakly.

Swearing under his breath, John moved over to the video-phone as fast as his synthetic leg would allow, quickly putting in a call to emergency services, “It makes the arthritis worse,” Juliana spoke, suddenly trailing off as she sank against against the wall with her eyes closed. “The room’s spinning.”

Reggie watched wide-eyed as John hurried back to his mother’s side and knelt down on his good leg, “It’s a drug that puts stress on bodily organs and makes it impossible to release feelings of anxiety,” Juliana said in a weakening voice, keeping her eyes closed. “Withdrawals could bring on…”

Suddenly, Juliana turned her head and began to vomit violently on the floor several times and suddenly spat out something that looked like a computer part surrounded by spikes, “It’s finally out,” she breathed in an exhausted voice. “I’ve been trying to puke it up for days with little success.”

John eyed the item suspiciously, “It’s a submission chip,” Juliana spoke in a weak voice, exhaling sharply.

Not trusting that the thing wouldn’t try to hurt him, John quickly retrieved a container and sealed the object up, “I’ll call the police to come get this,” he said, eyeing the object worriedly. “You okay?”

Juliana closed her eyes and let out a shaky sigh, “Just give me a minute,” she spoke shakily.

Container in hand, John nodded and silently left the room to contact the police about what happened.  
*****  
SuperSears

Deeply uncomfortable being in a public place after being isolated by InSyndicate so long, Juliana silently looked through the women’s clothes for something that wasn’t overly colorful, too tight, too low cut, and had sleeves that would hide her thin arms from view. John had lent her some clothes to wear home from the hospital because hers were simply too see through from overuse and he had thrown them out.

Dorian had surprisingly been invited along and was helping Reggie pick out clothes while John hung around Juliana. When he had contacted his precinct about the submission chip, Maldonaldo had insisted he take Juliana and Reggie somewhere away from the apartment and that she would send Dorian too, but there had been no further explanation. John had dropped the container off at the precinct on the way and had asked why he was doing this, but Maldonaldo simply promised to contact him later on.

John watched as a female sales-bot approached Juliana, “Are you in need of assistance, dear?” the bot asked in its typical friendly way as she put a hand on Juliana’s shoulder. “You have very pretty hair…”

Juliana suddenly froze and went very quiet, staring off into space as the sales bot guided her through the racks of clothes, taking shirts, pants, and jackets off random racks, “Excuse me,” John said to the bot.

The bot turned and looked at John, who was watching Juliana, “Take your hands off of her now,” he said in a stern voice, quickly realizing that Juliana had gone non-responsive at the sales bot’s touch.

Intimidated by John’s look, the bot removed her hands and dumped the clothes in Juliana’s arms before stalking off, “Jules,” John spoke, frowning when Juliana began to shake and cry softly. “Juliana?”

“I…I should try these on,” Juliana finally spoke shakily. “I don’t know if these will fit.”

John eyed the clothes and eyed Juliana’s slender frame, “I think they will,” he replied in a reassuring voice as he took the clothes. “Let’s go find Dorian and Reggie, pay for this stuff, and go eat.”

“John, please go find Reggie and Dorian,” Juliana spoke quietly. “I…I just need a minute.”

The sight of Dorian and Reggie coming towards them with a pile of colorful boys’ clothes caused John to look away for one moment to acknowledge them. When he looked back at Juliana, she was gone.

“Where’s Mommy, Uncle John?” Reggie asked in a confused voice. “Did she get some clothes too?”

John silently took the clothes from Dorian, giving Dorian a look, “Mommy went for a walk to go see what food is available,” he lied. “You and I are going to pay for the clothes and then go get some food.”

While Reggie followed John to the counter to pay for the clothes, Dorian took off back into the mall because he could use his scanning technology to locate Juliana even if she had left the building.  
*******  
Memory Restoration – the Recollectionist in Koln District can restore displaced memories. The page read.

Ripping the page from the advertisement book, Juliana stepped out of the communication booth and slipped the page into the pocket of the pants she had borrowed from John. She couldn’t remember why she had disliked the touch of female bots, but she wanted to know because of the incident in the store.

Swallowing hard, Juliana reached up and pulled the scrunchie off of her hair, as she had only kept her hair as long as her butt because InSyndicate had insisted upon it. The sales bot’s comment about her pretty hair had made her feel disgusting and tainted, but she couldn’t remember why that was.

Quickly spotting a stylist, Juliana walked over to the small, exquisitely decorated shop and looked at the style holos on the walls to see what she wanted, “Can I help you?” a male stylist asked suspiciously.

“I hate my hair,” Juliana replied, gazing at the stylist. “My brother, Detective Kennex, suggested I…”

The stylist nodded, seeing the family resemblance immediately because the detective had been in every so often for a trim and had mentioned his missing sister just for something to talk about, going so far as to even share a holophoto of her, “I would rather have it at my shoulders and simply less troublesome.”

“I will charge it to Detective Kennex’s account,” the stylist said reassuringly. “Please, come sit down.”

Juliana nodded and made herself comfortable in one of the chairs, letting out a sigh of relief as she was eased backward into a sink. The water and shampooing felt like bliss and before Juliana knew it, the stylist had sat her up and was gently ruffling her washed hair with a towel so it could be cut.

“I will make you look as beautiful as your soul is,” the stylus promised as he began to quickly cut.

As the haircut progressed, Juliana suddenly saw Dorian come into the shop, “John bought the clothes and has taken Reggie to eat,” Dorian said in a calm, confused voice. “You didn’t mention this.”

“I need to be rid of it, Dorian,” Juliana replied quietly. “I hate it and I can’t remember why I hate it.”  
Dorian watched silently, as he had seen Juliana seek information about memory recollection and was concerned that she might seek out the Recollectionist for help as John had once done for himself. Soon enough, the haircut was done and Juliana’s hair was now curly, clean, and shoulder length.

“Thank you,” Juliana replied as she set the apron aside and got up. “See you.”

The stylist nodded and Juliana left the shop with Dorian, “Is John still entertaining Reggie?” she asked.  
Dorian gave Juliana a look, “Recollectionists are dangerous,” he spoke softly. “I saw you get…”

Juliana scoffed, but before she could reply, two figures clad in black emerged and grabbed Juliana, pinning her against the wall, “You gave the diaries to the police and you regurgitated your submission chip,” one of the voices said darkly. “Did Jefra not break you enough that you would dare defy?!”

Dorian quickly got his gun out and moved over to the two figures, “Release her,” he hissed, aiming.  
One of the figures placed a hand over the gun, causing it to suddenly die, “Your weapon is ineffective,” it said in a cold voice, glaring at Dorian as an alarm suddenly sounded. “You are as defiant as…”

Two shots were suddenly fired, causing the figures to explode all over Juliana and Dorian while the alarm continued to sound. Dorian turned to see John standing downwind with his weapon out while Maldonaldo and several MX’s stood behind him with Reggie and several shopping bags in tow.

“Rudy analyzed the chip and found that an alert had been sent out due to the deactivation,” Maldonaldo explained to Dorian as John holstered his weapon. “These droids are executors.”

Dorian’s eyes widened and deeply shaken, Juliana slumped against the wall to the floor and struggled to control her breathing simply because she knew that those droids had been sent to kill her over surrendering the logs and puking up the chip. Her mother’s cruel laugh and taunting about how she and her crippled brother would never amount to anything filled Juliana’s ears, drowning out worried voices.

“…This mall is being evacuated due to an incident involving the InSyndicate. Please proceed to…”

John knelt down on his good leg and gently began patting Juliana’s face while the MX cops moved away to help evacuate the mall, “Come on, Jules,” he said in an anxious voice. “Wake up for me already…”

Unaware that she had passed out, Juliana slowly opened her eyes, “Crap,” she whispered anxiously.  
“Do you need medics?” John asked in a worried voice, knowing that she was in shock.

Juliana shook her head and slowly got to her feet, frowning when she saw Maldonaldo with Reggie, “Is Reggie okay?” she asked in a concerned voice as she slowly walked over to them. “Reggie.”

John sighed and looked at Dorian as Reggie hugged his mother, “Detective Kennex, a word,” Maldonaldo said in a quiet voice as she walked over to him. “Dorian, take Juliana and Reggie outside, please.”

Once Dorian had removed, Juliana and Reggie, Maldonaldo offered John a stylus, “This is the person who ordered those executor droids here and ordered Juliana’s capture seven years ago. We analyzed all of Juliana’s logs…”

Detective Kennex took the stylus and frowned when he saw a photo of his mother, a woman who had cut off all contact and vanished after his father had died, labelled Jefra Kennex: Master of Assassination and Criminal Liaison for InSyndicate North America and International Director of Trafficking staring at him.


End file.
